Advisors
Richard Dasher
USATMC
Dr. Dasher is the chair of the ASES Board of Advisors.
Dr. Dasher has been with the US-Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University since 1993, becoming USATMC Acting Director in 1994 and Director in 1996. Since 1996, he has concurrently held the post of Consulting Associate Professor in the Stanford University School of Engineering, and he has additionally served as Executive Director of Stanford’s Center for Integrated Systems since 1998.
Dr. Dasher serves as Advisor to the International Business Incubator (since 1997) and the US-Japan Business Incubation Center (since 2000), both in San Jose, California. He is faculty advisor to several Stanford student-run organizations with focus on international entrepreneurship, and he regularly serves as a judge in the Stanford “E-Challenge” business plan competition. Dr. Dasher maintains an active private consulting practice on international business strategy and planning, technology trend and opportunity analysis, and Japan market entry and performance improvement. He has been a member of the International Advisory Committee to the Japanese government in regard to the creation of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. From April 2004, he joined the Board of Trustees of Tohoku University.
Holder of the Ph.D. in Linguistics from Stanford University, Dr. Dasher is co-author of the book “Regularity in Semantic Change” (Cambridge University Press, 2002). He is fluent in Japanese and directed the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute training centers in Japan and Korea from 1986-90. From 1990-93, Dr. Dasher was a salaried board director of two Japanese companies in Tokyo, at which he expanded the companies’ business lines to include international IP licensing. He taught clarinet and chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1978-85 and maintains an active interest in performing and enjoying music.
Sridhar Jagannathan
Intuit
Dr. Sridhar Jagannathan is a strategic advisor to venture funds and early stage startups. Earlier, Sridhar was Vice President of Technology for Softbank Emerging Markets, a $200M fund focused on early stage investments in emerging markets. Prior to SoftBank, Sridhar was Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Adatom.com, Inc., an ecommerce enabler and marketmaker. Earlier, Sridhar was Technical Director for Internet & eCommerce Solutions at Oracle Corporation. He was also instrumental in setting up Oracle’s Applications Center of Excellence, which co-ordinated product testing, release and beta implementations.Sridhar is the author of an ecommerce book (Internet Commerce Metrics and Models, Prentice Hall, 2001) and has taught an ecommerce course for U.C. Berkeley.Sridhar has a doctorate in engineering from University of California, Berkeley and a Master’s degree (Sloan Fellow) from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Alex Liu
Atheros Communications
Alex Liu is the founder of SSAE, one of ASES’ precursor organizations. Currently, he is the Manager of Business Development for Atheros Communications. In this role, he is responsible for developing new applications and markets for Atheros’ wireless technology, with a specific focus on telecommunications. His previous experience includes technical roles at Atheros, Siemens, and Hitachi. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Tina Seelig
Stanford Technology Ventures Program
Tina Seelig is the Executive Director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program where she is responsible for the management, operations, and dissemination efforts of STVP. In addition, Tina is the Director of the Stanford Entrepreneurship Network and the co-Director of the Mayfield Fellows Program. Tina also teaches a course in the Department of Management Science & Engineering on Creativity and Innovation.Prior to joining STVP, Tina worked as an entrepreneur, management consultant, author, and scientist. Tina received her Ph.D. from Stanford University Medical School in 1985 where she studied Neuroscience.Tina has worked as management consultant for Booz, Allen, and Hamilton, has written several popular science books and has designed a series of educational games. Her books include The Epicurean Laboratory, Incredible Edible Science, and a series called Games for Your Brain.Tina’s current position as Executive Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program takes advantage of her technical background, in addition to her experiences as a manager, entrepreneur, and educator.
Yokum Taku
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Yoichiro Taku is a corporate and securities partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. “Yokum” represents technology companies at all stages of their growth through private financings, technology transactions, public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He also represents investment banks in public offerings and investors in venture capital financings. Yokum also has experience in U.S.-Japan transactions and worked at the Tokyo law firm of Nagashima & Ohno (currently Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu) in 1994 and 1995.He received a B.A. in political science from the University of Minnesota in 1990 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1993.
Evan Tana
Loopt, Inc.
Evan Tana is currently Director of Product Management and Marketing at Loopt, a Palo Alto-based Sequoia and NEA backed company building a revolutionary social mapping service to change the way people use mobile phones to keep in touch with friends. Most recently Evan was a Product Manager at Digital Chocolate, one of the world’s largest publishers of mobile games. Before following his passion for mobile technology, Evan spent time at private equity firm in Beijing and Goldman Sachs in San Francisco. Evan earned his BS and MS from Stanford University. Evan was an active member of ASES Stanford and served as its President his senior year. He also participated in the Mayfield Fellows program.
Steven G. Suda
Director, Stanford Office of Asian Relations
Steven Suda is the director of the Stanford International Division, Office of Development at Stanford University . He is responsible for coordinating and directing a number of the university’s institutional activities in Asia.He received his undergraduate degree in political economics (B.A. 1981) at the University of California, Berkeley with an area of specialization in Japan-US relations. After graduation, he spent two years studying Japanese and one year studying Japanese politics and economics at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.In 1983, Mr. Suda joined Nakamichi Corporation, a specialized audio and computer peripherals equipment manufacturer, based in Japan. After two years in the International Division in Tokyo, Mr. Suda established and managed Nakamichi subsidiaries in Sydney, Australia; Vancouver, Canada; and Los Angeles, California.In June 1991, Mr. Suda joined Stanford University as Director of Asian Operations in the Office of Development.
